Plato Admits eRep is Dead

Day 3,034, 08:17 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps
Baby Gonna Leave Me (Mandatory listening)
Day 3034 of the New World
March 11, 2016



Earlier today I put out a shout.


I was trolling Plato because his leader board is still in quote-unquote beta mode.


Here's a screen cap of my Shout:






One of my favorite people in eRepublik commented in that Shout, linking an article by Alexis Bonte That was published just three days ago. It is an article describing the recent failure of the mobile game called Tactical Heroes developed by the same people who provide us with eRepublik.

I don't expect you to read that article, but if you do you will find the following illuminating comment made by the head of eRepublik labs:

"So was Tactical Heroes a waste of time and money? Honestly it would have been if we hadn’t had the luck of having a strong existing game with eRepublik.com that gave us the financial legs to take the learnings and try again. We know exactly what mistakes we made with Tactical Heroes… So yes it was worth it but we were fortunate that we were in a position that we could plan ahead that such a failure might happen and set aside sufficient funds to have another go."





I don't know how you can read that in any other way than to understand that eRepublic Labs is taking the money that you are investing in this game and using it to develop other games. That, of course, is entirely their privilege. They own this game and they can do with it what they want.


My question to you, if you are still spending RL money in eRepublik, is this:


Knowing what we now know, that eRepublik Labs is using eRepublik income to fund other games instead of using eRepublik income to fund eRepublik developments, are you willing to stop spending money in eRepublik?





I understand the gravity of the question.


I know what it means to look at your profile - at what you’ve spent years and hard earned cash developing - and imagining the prospect of simply abandoning it. It sucks.


But it would be equivalent to the ostrich burying its head in the sand if you can’t look at this situation and understand that eRepublik Labs has made a corporate decision to abandon the future of this game.


Do you understand what I am saying? Do you understand what Alexis Bonte is saying?


eRep Labs has abandoned eRepublik.





Yes, the servers are still running.


Yes, you can still buy gold and stashes and packs.


Yes, you can still click fight.


But this RL article states it in language as clear as language gets:


The only reason eRep Labs wants your money in eRep is so that they can make other games.





Now I don’t want to insult anyone. We all have the freedom to spend our RL money wherever we want to. And the fact is, eRep is (for the moment) a functioning gaming environment where RL cash buys you status. If you want to keep spending here, go nuts. I won’t judge you.


But if you are “investing” in your citizen’s future with the hope that some day you might enjoy the fun of being at the top of a vibrant and growing gaming community, think again. No browser game can survive forever without the firm commitment of its developers.


And eRepublik no longer has the firm commitment of its developers. They have admitted it in public. The gig is up.


The sad thing is that there is no reason why eRepublik could not continue to thrive with the proper commitment and investment. The very fact that it makes enough money to be able to fund a failed mobile app proves that the eRepublik concept is a winning one.


I am left to assume that the developers are chasing their own ego. It’s one thing to develop and succeed with a browser game that has survived for 8 years. But the only difference between continuing to pursue proven success in one game and chasing elusive success in multiple games is the potential inflation of the ego. “We have conquered multiple formats!” “We have succeeded with 3 games!” “We are awesome!”


I think I would have preferred, “We have stumbled upon something truly wonderful and we are going to dedicate our skills and energy to making it better and better and better.” That would have caused me to spend and spend and spend.


Hoo boy.

















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